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Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008 which comes with a substantial monetary award so it seems doubtful that he needs to live off of S

Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008 which comes with a substantial monetary award so it seems doubtful that he needs to live off of Substack revenue.

vessenes 1y ago
Needs - who knows? Chooses to? Apparently. That said I wouldnt be surprised if he makes more at substack annually than he did for the prize - about $1mm. As to his own investment returns we don’t know, but early as 2016 he cautioned that apple google and Microsoft might be overvalued. If you imagine that diversification/defensive portfolio construction mindset stuck with him and he therefore underperformed the nasdaq since then we might expect something like 3xing his grant, meaning at 10% annual yield if he converted to using it for income he’d see 250-350k a year in income from the prize. To be clear, I generally like Krugmans writing, I’ve learned a lot reading his essays, and I think he should make as much as he wants to make doing what he wants to do. But I’d like some intellectual rigor from him even when he’s talking about people he dislikes.
- Karrot_Kream 1y ago
  I wouldn't be commenting on this thread because I knew it would end up like this, but your comments are measured, thanks. Krugman's move to Substack has, unfortunately, turned him into a bit of a culture war fighter. When he analyzes economics on his blog he's (IMO) top notch, which to me is amazing given his age (guess he won the Nobel for a reason.) His articles on the Argentina Swap Line, whether you agree with him or not about how it was done to bail out Bessent's buddies, were very well thought out. But when Krugman opines about politics I find that he largely thinks about it from the culture war lens of today. I directionally agree with him but just sorta take his politics with a grain of salt. IMO that's the best way to treat Krugman's writing. The problem is if you discuss this on HN you'll get assuredly downvoted. Any thread critical of Silicon Valley here brings out all the people with strong culture war beliefs, both pro and anti, and they turn into low thought slogs really quickly. I'm pretty sure Krugman can take whatever criticism you give him, he's a sharp mind. Not sure I can say the same about the folks who opine on these threads here though.
  - vessenes 1y ago
    Message well received. This dynamic seems endemic, sadly. I’ve recently banned myself from just these interactions because like you say there’s a lottt of energy in the topics, and that energy can be toxic and highly appealing to many, including me. Breaking my ban probably didn’t help anyone, just got a bunch of folks wound up. I’m not sure HN really was any better 15 years ago, but in my mind it had higher quality discourse ca 2011. I still prefer it to any other online forum, but I find I’m more often than not frustrated engaging on anything but the least controversial of tech topics.

Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008 which comes with a substantial monetary award so it seems doubtful that he needs to live off of Substack revenue.

vessenes 1y ago

Needs - who knows? Chooses to? Apparently. That said I wouldnt be surprised if he makes more at substack annually than he did for the prize - about $1mm. As to his own investment returns we don’t know, but early as 2016 he cautioned that apple google and Microsoft might be overvalued. If you imagine that diversification/defensive portfolio construction mindset stuck with him and he therefore underperformed the nasdaq since then we might expect something like 3xing his grant, meaning at 10% annual yield if he converted to using it for income he’d see 250-350k a year in income from the prize. To be clear, I generally like Krugmans writing, I’ve learned a lot reading his essays, and I think he should make as much as he wants to make doing what he wants to do. But I’d like some intellectual rigor from him even when he’s talking about people he dislikes.

Karrot_Kream 1y ago
I wouldn't be commenting on this thread because I knew it would end up like this, but your comments are measured, thanks. Krugman's move to Substack has, unfortunately, turned him into a bit of a culture war fighter. When he analyzes economics on his blog he's (IMO) top notch, which to me is amazing given his age (guess he won the Nobel for a reason.) His articles on the Argentina Swap Line, whether you agree with him or not about how it was done to bail out Bessent's buddies, were very well thought out. But when Krugman opines about politics I find that he largely thinks about it from the culture war lens of today. I directionally agree with him but just sorta take his politics with a grain of salt. IMO that's the best way to treat Krugman's writing. The problem is if you discuss this on HN you'll get assuredly downvoted. Any thread critical of Silicon Valley here brings out all the people with strong culture war beliefs, both pro and anti, and they turn into low thought slogs really quickly. I'm pretty sure Krugman can take whatever criticism you give him, he's a sharp mind. Not sure I can say the same about the folks who opine on these threads here though.
- vessenes 1y ago
  Message well received. This dynamic seems endemic, sadly. I’ve recently banned myself from just these interactions because like you say there’s a lottt of energy in the topics, and that energy can be toxic and highly appealing to many, including me. Breaking my ban probably didn’t help anyone, just got a bunch of folks wound up. I’m not sure HN really was any better 15 years ago, but in my mind it had higher quality discourse ca 2011. I still prefer it to any other online forum, but I find I’m more often than not frustrated engaging on anything but the least controversial of tech topics.